Furnace-cleaner



J. DE GRAFF.

FURNACE CLEANER.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 18, 1919.

1,388,560, V Patented Aug. 23, 1921.

INVENTOR ATTORNEY5 PATENT OFFICE.

JAN DE GRAFF, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

FURNACE-CLEANER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 23, 1921.

Application filed October 18, 1919.- Serial No. 331,527.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JAN DE GRAFF, a citizenof the United States of America, residing at Detroit, in the county oflVayne and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Furnace- Cleaners, of which the following is aspecification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

In my copending application, filed December 9, 1918, Serial No. 265,850,there is disclosed a furnace brush or scraper composed of a plurality ofarticulated tubular or hollow sections forming a flexible member whichmay be inserted in a flue, cavity or sinuous channel or passage tobrush, scrape or otherwise agitate the Walls of the flue or passage toloosen and remove soot, dust, incrustation or other matter that mayadhere to the walls of the flue or passage. After thousands of thesedevices have been used it is found that the foreign matter brushed orscraped from the flue walls enters the tubular or hollow member andinterferes with its flexibility and manipulation in the flue.

The present invention is directed to means for closing the ends of thetubular or hollow sections embodied in the scraper or cleaning device,also certain improvements by which the device is simplified from amanufacturing standpoint and made more perfect or efficient as acleaner.

Reference will now be had to the drawing, wherein- Figure 1 is a sideelevation of the clean in device, partly broken away.

ig. 2 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view of a portion of thedevice showing the articulation and closures at the confronting ends oftwo sections or members.

Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional view of the same.

Fig. 4: is a cross sectional view taken on the line H of Fig. 2 showingthe sectional lines 22 and 3-3 on which Figs. 2 and 3 are taken.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a detached closure.

Fig. 6 is a view of the outer end of the device.

Fig. 7 is a horizontal sectional view taken on the line 7-7 of Fig. 6.

Fig. 8 is a front elevation of a detached scraper or cleaning elementand Fig. 9 is a cross sectional view taken on the line 9-9 of Fig. 7.

As in my former construction there is a plurality of hollow or tubularsections or members 1 having the ends thereof provided with opposedapertured ears 2 and 3, the ears at one end of a member or sectionlongitudinally alining with the ears at the opposed end thereof and thecars at one side of the member or section being in the same plane. Thisis somewhat a different arrangement of ears from that of my formerconstruction, as will hereinafter appear. The cars protrude from theends of the members or sections and the ears 2 of one member or sectionare adapted to be pivotally connected to the ears 3 of an adjacentmember or section by rivets or pins 4. In order that the ears 2 and 3may be placed in parallelism, as best shown in Fig. 3, it is necessarythat one of the ears 3 engage the inner wall of one of the ears 2 andthe other ear 3 engage the outer wall of the other ear 2 thereby placingadjoining members or sections slightly out of alinement, but since thesemembers or sections are made of comparatively thin gage metal it isimmaterial whether the members or sections are in perfect alinement ornot as the cleaning device is always used in a flue or passage ofgreater diameter then the members or sections 1.

By using a plurality of members or sections 1 a cleaning device ofdesirable length may be obtained and the innermost member or section maybe of less length than the other members or sections, as shown in Fig.1, and provided With a suitable handle 5 so that the device may bepushed, pulled, turned and otherwise manipulated in a furnace flue orpassage.

My first important improvement is that of providing closures or caps 6for the C011- fronting open ends of the members or sec tions 1, and eachcap is stamped or pressed from sheet metal to engage the end walls ofthe members or sections 1. Each cap or closure has a plurality of prongs7 that extend over an end of the member 1 to prevent lateraldisplacement of the cap or closure and to prevent longitudinaldisplacement, each cap has a central pressed-out seat portion 8 thatengages a rivet or pin 4;,

- but does not interfere with pivotal movement of the member 1 or therivet 4. Each cap is furthermore cut away, as at 9, to proenter themembers 1 and such soot or matter that lod es between the caps can beshaken or .forci l ejected therefrom during the manipulation of'thecleaning device. The prongs 7 prevent the caps from entering the members1 by pressure on the confronting faces of the caps, and it isobviousthat various kinds of closures, somewhat along the lines of the caps 6,can be employed for sealin the ends of the members 1. 7

next improvement is at the outer end of ti? cleaning device and insteadof providing the device with detachable interchangeable tools of variouskinds, I provide the outermost member '1 with a permanent central andirregularly shaped scraper 10. The outermost member 1 has its outer endformed with opposed lugs 11 adapted to extend through slits or slots 12in the scraper 10, said lugs being bent against the outer face of thescraper and riveted or otherwise h connected to the scraper, as at 13.The scraper is therefore rigidly held in a plane ata right angle to thelongitudinal axis of the outer member 1 and said'scraper closes saidmember, as best shown in Fig. 7.

7 From the foregoing it will be observed that I have made valuableimprovements in connection with my former cleaning device,

and even now I do not care to confine myself to the precise constructionand arrangement of parts, other then defined by the appending claims.

What I claim is v 1. A flexible device comprising a plurality of tubularmembers having apertured ears at the end thereof, pins connecting theapertured ears of one member to the ears of an adjacent member, caps onthe confronting ends of said members, and prongs carried by said capsengaging the outer sides of said members between said ears.

2. A flexible device composed of hollow members, pins pivotallyconnecting said members, and dirt excluding caps at the ends of saidmembers retained in enga ement therewith by bearing against oppositesides of said pins.

3. A flexible device comprising a lurality of tubular members, pinspivotal y connecting said members, and caps at the ends of said membersand having prongs engaging the edges of said members, said caps avingpressed out portions engaging said ins. In testimony whereof I aflix mysignature in the presence of two witnesses.

JAN DE GRAFF.

Witnesses:

ANNA M. Donn, KARL H. BUTLER.

